The world's lightning strikes mapped in real time

Click, click cli-cli-cli-click. That's the sound of lightning
striking the world in real-time. At least according to a map made
by Egon Wanke and Tobias Volgnandt.

The German duo has worked to build up a network of amateur
meteorologists who have connected lightning sensors -- which
collect data relating to lightning strikes in their area -- to the
web. This allows for a very active map -- Blitzortung -- that shows
how often the world gets hit by these massive electrostatic
charges.

The project was initially developed by Wanke back in 2012, who
wanted to democratise access to data relating to lightning strikes
-- traditionally guarded by commercial networks that charged large
fees to people seeking that data -- whether that be airports or
energy companies concerned about power surges. There were a number
of other lightning detectors on the market, but none was
particularly accurate or cost-effective. As a result, Wanke decided
to develop his own detector. He went for a time-of-arrival approach
to lightning detection, which is what tends to be used by
commercial networks. "His goal was to create something really
low-cost," explained Volgnandt over the phone to Wired.co.uk. "It
is also about providing free maps for everyone and having some
fun."

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Individuals can buy their own detector (for around EUR200) from
Blitzortung and connect it to the network. The detectors currently
require some assembly by the user, including soldering, and some
basic understanding of how electromagnetism behaves (meaning that
the detectors need to be as far away from anything that might
interfere with it, including other electrical devices such as CRT
screens, amplifiers and vacuum cleaners) so it's not massively
accessible as yet.

Once the receiver is built, users can connect it to the internet
and Blitzortung's central processing servers receive the data and
can then calculate the exact positions of the discharges that have
been detected based on the intensity of the measurements combined
with the GPS location of the receiver. This data is then published
in real-time to the website. Individuals who supply data to the
network are free to use the raw data for non-commercial
purposes.

So far, the team has sold more than 1,000 detectors, and around
800 are connected to the web. "But that's growing fast. We've had
several requests over the last few days," said Volgnandt, in
recognition of the viral spike in interest they have received.

The team is currently working on more of a plug-and-play device
that requires less knowledge on behalf of the user, but Wanke and
Volgnandt are trying to balance meeting the demands of the
community with having a fun hobby.

"I's really cool when you see the signals on the detector from
thousands of kilometres away and then in a few seconds you see the
lightning strikes on the map," Volgnandt explains. "It's not a job,
it's a hobby. We are working every day. We try what we can, but we
need days that are 100 hours long!"

The result is a mesmerising map that clicks and flashes each
time lightning strikes. The coverage is skewed towards where the
community is strongest -- so Europe, USA and Australia. "But
there's none in Asia, Africa or South America," Volgnandt says. He
adds that he'd love the coverage to be more evenly-spread, but
doesn't want to dictate that people should get involved. "Those who
want to participate can do so in order to have fun and learn."